In 2018, Bible a Month Regular Giver’s like you provided Bibles for people displaced during the conflict with Russia in eastern Ukraine. Recently, the staff of the Ukrainian Bible Society received a surprising request for Bibles from the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), formerly known as the KGB or the secret police!
The officers requested Bibles and some scholarly biblical editions for Ukraine’s largest library, the Vernadsky National Library in Kyiv. They also asked for 350 children’s Bibles for families of SSU officers who had been killed during the war in Eastern Ukraine.
After the Bibles had been given, Deputy General Secretary of the Ukrainian Bible Society, Anatoliy, reflected on what it meant to him.
“For us, who remember the Soviet period, these are God’s miracles when officers of the SSU – the former KGB that imprisoned our fathers and grandfathers for the Bible – are asking for this Book!
“I recall how KGB officers were searching our home when I was eight. I still remember that fear when my father was handcuffed, brought out of the house and taken somewhere. I also recall that my grandfather served nine years in high security camps and prisons of the Russian North just for owning and preaching the Bible!
“Today, while holding a Bible, one of the officers asked us to pray “for everyone who would be opening and reading this Holy Book that opens up the true value of human life.” Indeed, God works in mysterious ways!
“Many thanks to all of you, our dear friends. It’s because of your help that we have Bibles to share with those who were prohibiting and destroying them recently, and who are now asking for them for themselves and their families.”